Prayers please?

[Miss Mary]

Hi all. I know when members have asked to have prayers sent their way, amazing things happen with the "Prayer Warriers" here at Storm2K. Can I ask for some today?

My 15 year old daughter has an allergy to peanuts. Last night she was at a friend's house for a few hours, hanging out, playing pool, watching video's. When I picked her up, I noticed right away her eyes were swollen and I suspected she came in contact with peanut butter/peanuts. Long story short, the swelling is minor but persistent. She's to be on Benadryl around the clock for at least 24 hours. Maybe longer if the swelling hasn't gone down. She's had a few reactions to PB thru the years, the worst one was after coating toast in preschool with PB to make a bird feeder (teacher mistakenly thought she could touch it). Her eyes that time swelled almost shut and stayed that way for 3 days. That incident required an ER trip. This time that's not the case, thank you God! It is minor compared to how bad it could be (hives, rash, wheezing, throat closing up, etc.).

We are now crossing into new territory with Nina now. She's more social and just wants to be "normal". She rarely tells anyone about this allergy. But last night a few friends saw how concerned I was so at least now they realize this is serious. She had her Benadryl and EpiPen with her, but didn't use either. This time though, in her defense, we don't need the EpiPen. Her only symptom is eye swelling, which is what happens when she touches PB. We think someone must have eaten a Reese's Cup for example, played pool, then she touched the same pool stick. So on top of trying to figure out what happened, I am dealing with a teen reluctant to take this more seriously. I do think this time it scared her. Can't imagine what I'll do when I let her go off to college in 2 years but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. One thing at a time, right?

I guess my request is twofold:
1. That she be okay (which I think she will be).
2. That Nina finally realizes the seriousness of this allergy. I did ask a doc once what the outcome would be in a full blown, anaphylactic reaction, without meds, or going to the ER - her throat would close up and she would die. That scared the you know what out of me, she was only 3 at the time. I just want her to prepared for next time, take this more seriously and be careful.

Thanks for reading everyone. Like I said, this time it was minor. I even hestitated in requesting prayers but I know we do wonders here in that department. No replies needed also - just say a prayer for Nina and family today. Thanks loads!!!

[Amanzi]

Miss Mary. I will lift your requests up in prayer. It must be very difficult for both you and your daughter, as PB is such a common substance. Take care, and let us know how she is doing. Thank the Lord it was not a very serious reaction.

[JCT777]

Mary - my thoughts and prayers are with your daughter and your family. An allergy like this should be taken very seriously - and I am sure that she will start taking it more seriously now. You will just have to trust that she will do the right thing once she goes off to college.

[azsnowman]

Got ya covered Mary! Ask and it shall be given unto you!

Dennis

[ColdFront77]

Mary, I am so sorry to hear about this. Something as simple as peanut butter can cause so much problems. Thoughts and prayers for your daughter Nina, you and your family.

[Skywatch_NC]

Mary, I will be praying for Nina.

Eric

[JetMaxx]

Miss Mary, I'll definitely keep Nina in my prayers.

I know what you are going through. Both my grandmother and great aunt are bad diabetics, and sometimes they just don't seem to realize how much a "deli sample" of chocolate cake or "complimentary senior donut" at Kroger on Wednesday can affect them.
(eating a fudge brownie once raised Granny's blood glucose from 70 to 343 in less than three hours).

I have to be extremely cautious in restaurants. A simple mistake by a waiter or hostess can be fatal. Once at Chick-Fil-A, the teenage girl working at the counter somehow gave Granny a small coke labeled as a diet coke. Within an hour, Granny was "out of it"...stumbling all over the mall; her blood sugar peaking at over 400 (scared me to death...why I now ALWAYS either make Granny's soft drink myself or order ice water).

[breeze]

Prayer going up for Nina, and for you, too, Miss Mary!

Like you said, her allergy is the last thing that she wants
to deal with, right now, and, getting her to understand
the seriousness and importance of her allergy is
most important!

[cycloneye]

My prayers go to Nina and to you Miss Mary.

[Miss Mary]

Amanzi, John, Eric, Tom, Dennis, Annette, Perry and Luis - thanks you all so much for the much needed prayers. She's doing better since I last wrote. What a scare! I don't think I've looked this closely at her in ages. I get the rolled eyes everytime I ask her to come here and I check the swelling. You know teens, they're always off to do something else than hang out with parents. She's a good girl though, so I really can't complain. I call her hugs the 30 second hug - she even pats me on the back as if to say - okay, mom I need to go now. Off to the computer or play her stereo. I remember being like that, LOL. Anyway, I do think this minor reaction shook her up - and that's a good thing, if anything good can come out it. She does need a wake up call. In our area a college student once died after eating a meal at a local chinese restaurant. He had a peanut allergy, didn't have his meds with him, didn't argue with his friends who wanted chinese food, and hence thought he had ordered something peanut free. Well, there are few items on a chinese rest. menu, free of peanut products. In fact when I discussed this tragic case with our Ped. he said Nina can never step one foot in a chinese rest. And I have to say she's taken that advice to heart. Little by little, I'm getting thru to her. Years ago I made the decision to let her live as normally as possible. Not overprotect her, make her feel like a freak. Her term - not mine. I did go overboard when she was little, since I couldn't trust her not to put stuff in her mouth. I do trust on that level now, she won't eat foods unless reading the ingredients. Still last night was a wakeup call. Our approach is now to educate her once again, arm her with meds, and teach her what to do in the event of contact. And hope and pray for the best. I can't keep her in a bubble!

Well, once again dear Storm2K family, and I use that term most affectionately, thank you so much!

[Rainband]

I will pray for your daughter Miss Mary. I can relate..I have the same reaction to shellfish...It stinks because I used to love shrimp. I worked for a seafood rest. and long story short..got stabbed by the barbs of shrimp so much..I bulit up toxic level of the poison in them.. She will be ok

[Stephanie]

You know I have you and Nina in my prayers. It is tough to get a teenager to take anything seriously. My cousin Laura who has juvenile diabetes was always one for not watching what she ate and taking care of herself when she was a teenager. She did end up having to go to the hospital and I believe during one of those trips, they almost lost her. I'm sure that she will in time realize that she needs to watch out and that she should'nt feel like she needs to hide her allergy from her friends.

[Lindaloo]

Mary you know I have Nina covered in my prayers!! With you as a Mother she will be just fine.

Steph.. my prayers also go out to your cousin Laura!!

[CINCINNATISUN]

Mary,

I'm glad Nina is better today, you both
are in my thoughts and prayers this weekend
and always.

Your friend, Steve

[mf_dolphin]

Add me to the prayer group Mary! We'll keep you and Nina in our prayers.

[streetsoldier]

Introibo ad altare Dei for you, Miss Mary...ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam. ("I will go unto the altar of the Lord, the Lord who brings joy to my youth"... the best place to lay all matters is before Him.)

[Miss Mary]

Just checking in - Nina's doing fine today. Thanks once again everyone for the prayers. They sure helped! She needed uniform type shorts for her summer job and we actually shopped last night. Nina felt up to doing that, even though she was zonked out on Benadryl. We had about 30 min. one way to really talk about her allergy. Hope my words of wisdom sunk in. She did admit she wasn't annoyed with me anymore for my concern, she realizes I feel this way b/c I'm her mom and I love her. When she said that I almost had tears in my eyes. Maybe I need to flip out more? LOL No I won't but when I get concerned, you can't get me to walk away. Oh no, tha's not me!

Appreciate all the responses everyone but we're doing just fine now! Ready to pray for the next request and return the favor!

[azskyman]

Soooooo glad to hear that Nina is doing better...even though I'm sure mom now has a new set of worries for future days.

Kathy gets an allergic reaction to certain kinds of yogurt. Two spoonfuls and her throat closes up and her breathing becomes almost impossible. It took two different occasions with that happening (both back in IL) before we could relate the affect to the cause.

Allergic reactions are scary indeed. Nina needs to be disciplined enough to know what's a "No No!"

I break out in hives every time I think about going to work on Monday mornings. LOL, of course.

PS...mentioned your challenge on the Storm2k leanin' post thread, too!

[petal*pusher]

Miss Mary....Sending positive thoughts your way! What a scary thing for both you and your daughter to go thru. Reading your follow-up posts certainly shows the good relationship you and your daughter are blessed with! Believe me........my job that involves daily contact with teenagers has made me very much aware of the value of parent/child relationships......and far too many kids would love it if their parents (often parent) had an interest in them!

Peanut allergies are seemingly becoming more common.....in fact, food allergies of any kind have really increased! My thoughts are leaning towards the prevelence of Genetic Engineering in our daily food consumption.......and the fact that NO required testing at all by our FDA (companies do their OWN testing; no review required by FDA)......NO required labeling on GE food products (unbelievable, but true!!)........and the fact that almost 2/3 of our processed food has been altered!!

O.K......I'll get off my soapbox, but how sad that people with particular food allergies don't even realize that a fish gene has been spliced into that big juicy tomato...........or a Brazil nut gene has been added to that soy product!..........p :o

[GulfBreezer]

I will add her to my prayer list and ask God to send her a special guardian angel!!